Back in Town

I'm back from the beach and trying to get re-assimilated into the goings on of the intarweb and poker in general. I did bring my laptop to the beach, but the hotel at which I stayed had no wireless acccess. There was a Starbucks across the street, but there was never a good time to head over there by my lonesome and hop online. So it was 4 days without any access whatsoever. Cold turkey. I believe I had the shakes.

I also brought the pokerchips on vacation too. I was thinking I could round up a few donks on vacation for an impromptu tourney of sorts, but basically decided that chip challenges(tm) with miniBlood would suffice. For the record, miniBlood was crowned Myrtle Beach Poker Champion for the week.

(aside: On our first day as we got to the beach, miniBlood says "I don't even see any Myrtles." He cracks me up.)

You'd think that spending about $200/night on a hotel room would filter out some of the classic redneck southerners from the equation, but alas, we were not so lucky. There was one guy we saw who was NEVER without a beer in his hand the whole time. After seeing his family, I too would have not been without a beer during waking hours. Ever. His wife probably outweighed him by a good 70 pounds and she had skunk-like, bleached white hair running down the center of her head. A Pepe Le Pork, if you will. His mother-in-law was about 58 years old and had the biggest set of fake breasts I've ever seen. If she went topless, I was quite confident those things would hit the floor. Normally, I'm all in favor of boobie augmentation. This was an exception. Man, that's gonna give me nightmares.

Whilst I was going through poker withdrawal, I did pick up a few books for some reading pleasure. First up was Al Alvarez's Biggest Game in Town. It's a classic that chronicles the players and goings on during the 1981 WSOP. Not a strategy book by any means, but basically a tale recounting the legends of the game and their Vegas lifestyles. It was an easy and enjoyable read, but I couldn't help but feel that a modern-day retelling from our blogging contingent in Vegas would be a welcome addition to the poker section at Barnes and Noble. Here's hoping that a book from those guys finds its way to the shelves.

Next up was The Professor, The Banker and The Suicide King. Mean Gene and Maigrey have given this positive reviews and I'd have to third the notion. Now that many of the Pros are familiar faces, it seems that we're getting into what I call soap opera territory. Their lives both at and away from the poker tables become more and more interesting. I confess to being a fan of several "personalities" and am enjoying reading about what makes these players who they are. Andy Beal, the man who played the pros at the Big Game, is quite fascinating as well. Google the "Beal Conjecture" and you'll see that for someone with no formal mathematical training, the man is astoundingly bright.

Other than reading, swimming, and drinking, there wasn't much left to do besides catch up on some sleep. I think I was able to refuel the tanks this past week after depleting them slowly but surely with some late night poker.

I'll be trying to catch up with what you've all been doing, but as my blogline subscription has about 150 unread posts, it will take some time. Until then, I'll be donking around online and begin preparations for Bradoween V, at which I'll be the tournament director. This year's lineup looks to be one of the most difficult. I certainly can't wait for the arrival of some out of town guests to bring G-Vegas to its knees.